Costs of selling a home mount up

Yesterday I did the deed. Or more accurately, I paid Chicago Title a queen’s ransom to do the deed. For them to guarantee that there were no liens against my property I paid more than $1,500.  I also paid the realtors (mine and the buyers’) a commission of $21,000 and (state and local excise) taxes [...]

How am I doing?

People who know how much I love this house ask me how I’m holding up under the impending sale and move (of my stuff) into a storage unit.
Surprisingly, astonishingly even, FINE. I’ve been too busy to get emotional – or something like that. It’s been a process that I’ve thought about for a few years [...]

Come ‘n’ Git It! Everything must go!

Late this afternoon about 30 friends passed through my nearly empty house for a “Come ‘n’ Git It” party.
My friend Judi and I arranged on several tables all the stuff I wanted to free myself from.  I’d invited people via email and Facebook a few days earlier, asking that they bring food or drink to [...]

The case of the McGuire furniture

There is a time and a buyer for everything: witness the McGuire furniture saga.
You may remember my humongo McGuire desk, the logjam in my early efforts to downsize during the summer. It took up an acre of physical space but was way too valuable just to chuck. Or so I thought.
I listed it several times [...]

Auction results. Feh!

The auction house sent me a preliminary statement from last week’s sale.
My art deco sideboard sold for $650. The six place settings of lovely thoroughly modern looking 100-year-old china? $150. The antique clock? $350. Then the auction company takes 20% of that for commission.  Some stuff didn’t even sell.
I guess the good news is that [...]

What’s your stuff worth? (Hint: not much…)

I delivered a couple of antiques, some lovely old china and several nice paintings to a local auction house today. The guy had come out a few days ago to eyeball my holdings and estimate what they might bring at auction next month.
It was really depressing.
This 2,400 year-old ceramic water jug from Greece, for example, [...]

Downsizing begins in earnest now

Unpleasant realization:  I’ve still got a buttload of Stuff.
In order to show the house I had to move out a buttload –  and I did: actually sold, tossed, or donated (some of) it.
Unfortunately, the Stuff that came off the top was the easy Stuff – things that were ugly, unloved, unused, broken, obsolete, grubby, oversized. [...]

Sold! In ten days!!

I am stunned and tremendously relieved. Yes, it’s a wonderful feel-good home. Yes, I feng shui’d the heck out of it. Yes, I think we priced it right. Still, in this funky down market, to get two basically full-price offers almost immediately is miraculous.
The average time on the market in my town was 158 [...]

Realtor reality check. Ugh.

Yesterday I showed my house to the first of three or four realtors I’m interviewing to see who might best represent my precious place to the most appropriate buyers.
IMHO my house is special – beautiful grounds, mature landscaping and trees, beautifully remodeled, uniquely inviting, views from every window, secluded and quiet yet close in….  etc [...]

Craigslist observations (so far)

I listed 8 items on Craigslist Thursday night. Five were instant hits – lotsa calls, the other three….total silence.  Of course you always hope for the serendipitous possibility that your listing of the stuffed armadillo and the one stuffed armadillo collector in the universe happen on Craigslist at the same moment, but most transactions are [...]